Page 22 of Catching Dreams

“You found it?!” Peyton squealed in delight.

“I found it,” Cooper said with a huge grin, but he still had watery eyes. He pulled the little girl in for a hug. “And I’m going to get a special frame for it. This means so much to me.”

“He lost it when he found the letter,” Hayden said as he came over to stand next to me. “Like he had a full on panic attack. It was bad. We thought -”

I put my hand up to silence his thoughts from being said out loud. “I’m sure you guys thought the same as me. Thank goodness they are okay.”

Hayden nodded in agreement. “I can’t imagine what you were going through.”

I shook my head and sighed. “It’s going to be awhile before I can let her out of my sight.”

“Can she go with you on the road?”

“If they want me to play, they will let her,” I said with a little chuckle. “My manager said that she can as long as she gets a doctor's permission to travel with the team. She’ll have to pay for her own hotel room, and they asked her not to hang out at the hotel bar. Neither of those should be an issue since insurance should pay for her hotel rooms, and because she can’t drink, staying out of a bar won’t be hard for her.”

Hayden laughed in agreement. “How is double A? We miss you, man. Endicott is doing okay and learned a lot from you, but the new backup catcher who took his place doesn’t even try.”

“That sucks. Double A is different. The guys are okay, but it’s definitely not the same as being with you guys. I have one bro on the team, Montgomery, who would fit in with our group, but other than that, we mostly keep to ourselves and just play ball.”

Suddenly, we were surrounded by the Tiger players I had only left a few weeks ago. I really missed these guys and how well we had played together. Lots of hugs were shared between myself and Molly.

One former teammate I had yet to see was Ivan, and I found myself looking around for him. I wasn’t surprised to see him standing by my woman and showing her baby pictures. I walked over to them, wrapped my arms around Molly, and looked at the picture of a little Valentina trying to eat her own foot. We both couldn’t stop laughing and smiling as he scrolled through pictures.

“Your baby coming soon?” Ivan asked. “You so big! Not being asshole.”

“Not until the end of October or early November,” Molly explained.

Ivan looked like he couldn’t believe we still had that long to go. “You name bebé Ivan, right?”

Molly laughed. “We’ll see. No promises.”

“What are we not promising?” Cooper asked as he came over to us.

“Naming the baby after him,” I told him, honestly.

“Cooper would be an awesome name!”

Molly and Ivan both just rolled their eyes.

“Hey, guys!” Penelope said as she came back over to us. “The community room at my apartment is reserved for us. I talked to the diner I used to work at. Luckily, they weren’t affected by the storm, so they can cater our dinner tonight.”

“That’s awesome. Thanks for setting that up, Pen! Do they realize how big of a group we’re going to have?” Molly asked and gave her friend a big hug.

“Yeah, they know. I’m going to ask if anyone is able to bring a side dish, drinks, or a dessert. I know some people don’t have homes, and I wouldn’t expect them to bring anything.”

“I can bring some drinks,” Cooper said a little too eagerly before looking over at Pen. “Hey, Penelope. I have to tell you how happy I am that you and your kids are okay.”

Penelope shifted on her feet like she wasn’t sure how to respond. “Thanks. Sorry for scaring you guys.”

“Mommy! Mommy! CJ found his letter!” Peyton said as she came running over to us. “Can you believe it?!”

Penelope just shook her head and smiled down at her daughter. “I can’t believe it.”

“You’ve got great kids,” Cooper said, with an unusual seriousness to his voice.

“Thanks,” Penelope replied. “Oh, guys, this is my sister, Shiloh.”

I knew Molly had met Shiloh a few times, but this was my first time meeting her. She was about the same height as Penelope, and you could definitely see their sisterly resemblance. Penelope’s hair was a bit darker, and Shiloh had dirty blonde hair, but they shared their beautiful brown eyes.

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